Local external activities, issues that need solving
Friday - 06/08/2021 08:02
As part of the specialized agency system of the Provincial People's Committee, Binh Dinh Department of Foreign Affairs has made its great efforts to contribute to the promotion of the socio-economic development of the province and has been valued as good and excellent completion of the assigned tasks for many years. Such achievements are thanks to the spirit of solidarity and great efforts of the civil servants and labourers of the department. The leaders of the department are always aware that the results achieved do not naturally come by themselves, but all, whether great or small, require the careful and thoughtful action in mobilization, receipt and implementation because they are the products of the diplomatic process. Recognizing the importance of organizing the activities; in recent years, the leaders of the department have actively advised the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Committee to safely receive many international delegations; successfully organize many big events, international conferences and seminars, symposiums with the attendance of the foreign guests; mobilize, sign and implement many international cooperation agreements, foreign non-governmental programs and projects and investment projects with the foreign partners, etc., contributing to the improvement of the image and position of the province and the attraction of the external resources for the construction and development of the homeland and the country, etc.
Mr. Nguyen Thai Binh, Director of Binh Dinh Department of Foreign Affairs reporting at the Conference on evaluation of 10-year results
of non-governmental aid mobilization in Binh Dinh province (2011-2020)
To constantly improve the quality of the local external activities, contributing to the improvement of the state management role of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Binh Dinh Department of Foreign Affairs is always active in its management and recommendation; regularly coordinates with the functional agencies to promote the external activities, especially the economic diplomacy, cultural diplomacy and introduction of the image of the province abroad; pays close attention to the consolidation and improvement of the quality of the staff and the operational apparatus of the foreign affairs sector of the province; supplements staff and promotes the operational potential of the department to deserve the "diplomatic face" of the province in the coming time.
Many Departments of Foreign Affairs are facing a lot of difficulties because of not only the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also the limited payroll and operating expenses. In addition, a few departments have not grasped and fully promoted their functions and tasks as stipulated in the Joint Circular Ref. 02/2015/TTLT issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so they operate quite modestly, compared to some other departments in their localities. On the other hand, the current work relationship between the administrative agencies, the professional agencies and the people in the localities mainly focuses on solving the hot issues related to land, compensation, site clearance, exploitation of natural resources and minerals, environmental pollution treatment, planning, urban refurbishment, infrastructure investment and construction, etc. while the external activities occasionally appear and are not urgent, so the local leaders often arrange their time for the external activities after the activities of the other sectors. Therefore, the external activities in the localities are often controlled by the activities of other sectors. The Departments of Foreign Affairs are even rarely visited by the leaders of the provinces or the ministry.
To contribute to the improvement of the state management role of foreign affairs in the localities, except for actively promoting the monitoring, management and recommendation and taking full advantage of the attention and favorable conditions provided by the competent agencies, the Departments of Foreign Affairs of the provinces, especially the neighboring provinces and the provinces in the same region, should innovate their ways of operation, especially in coordination and exchange of information, develop the regulations on coordination with the relevant agencies, organize events for exchange of experience among the Departments of Foreign Affairs to share information, especially the difficulties and problems in the external activities, contributing to the improvement of the work efficiency of the departments. On the other hand, attention should be paid to the improvement of the quality of the briefings and meetings of the emulation blocks according to plan; the favourable conditions are created for the departments to present the information on their operating situations, the difficulties and obstacles in the state management of the external activities in the localities; the leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the departments, agencies assigned to attend and preside over the meetings should draw detailed conclusions and directions; promptly introduce and replicate the good practices, good management methods and instruct how to remove the difficulties and problems faced by the localities.
Being different from the Central Government, the local external activities are only ad hoc tasks which depend on the attention and facilitation of the central agencies, especially the legal documents of the Government. Many external activities in the localities are separately managed by the sectors, not just by the Department of Foreign Affairs; at the same time, there are still a number of legal documents related to foreign affairs that have not been promulgated by the central agencies, causing the local foreign affairs agencies to be even more difficult in their operation. To create favourable conditions for the local external activities to be more effective, contributing to the improvement of the state management role of the Departments of Foreign Affairs in the provinces and cities, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the focal point soon recommend the Government and the concerned ministries and agencies consider and complete the legal system as a complete legal corridor of the external activities or in other words, soon issue the regulations on administrative sanctions in the external sector and a number of regulations related to the registration and management of activities of foreign non-governmental organizations in Vietnam, instruct a number of articles in Decree Ref. 80/2020/ND-CP dated July 8th, 2020 and Decree Ref. 107/2020/ND-CP dated September 14th, 2020 of the Government, etc.
In addition, to contribute to the promotion of the administrative reform and the role of the Departments of Foreign Affairs and step by step effectively decentralize the administrative agencies, the state management agencies at the provincial and district levels as regulated by the Government and the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructs in writing the People's Committees of the provinces and cities to authorize the Departments of Foreign Affairs or the Directors of the Departments of Foreign Affairs to perform a number of tasks and powers related to the management of the foreign guests’ arrivals and the staff’s trips abroad, especially the arrivals with a few members of low rank (or no rank at all), specific and simple items of work under the responsibility of the departments, agencies and localities or going abroad with the expenses borne by the individuals, without using the state budget; pays attention to the organization of the professional training courses, regional briefings, scientific conferences and seminars; creates favourable conditions for the directors of foreign affairs to meet and work with the ambassadors and missions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs abroad to obtain more information for the direction and management purposes, etc.
To continuously improve the efficiency of the external activities and the state management role of the Departments of Foreign Affairs of the provinces and cities, except for the efforts made by the localities, it is needed to have close attention and favourable conditions from the central agencies, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in terms of not only the professional expertise, information for management and direction but also the stability of the mechanisms, policies and legal regulations so that the Departments of Foreign Affairs can promote their roles and be worthy of the focal points and the extended arms of the Central Government in the localities in terms of external activities and the issues related to foreign affairs.
